Brazilian Fires: Ecological Catastrophe and Air Pollution

2024 There have already been 159,417 fires across Brazil, with nearly 2 million hectares destroyed by fire in the Pantanal wetlands in the state of Mato Grosso do Sul alone. The fires led to increased levels of air pollution in Porto Velho, the capital of the state of Rondônia, and the city of Rio Branco, the capital of the state of Acre, in the west of the country, with smog and pollution affecting approximately 60 per cent of the country.